Growing Up Cody
by Codywolf
Summary: We know Commander Cody as the clone that tends to save Obi-wan's ass in the Clone Wars, but there's more to him than the scar on his face and the yellow paint on his armor. Follow along as Cody goes through the trials of the untraditional childhood of a clone to fighting in a war he doesn't have a say in.
1. Chapter 1

"Someday, these halls will be teaming with clones just like you, CC-2224," the Kaminoians scientist said excitedly as it led the young boy through the halls of Tipoca City. 2224 didn't bother to learn its name, know that in a matter of hours he would be handed off to another scientist for another round of tests and needles and endless hours of training. They all were the same to him, unimportant to him other than that they had created him and were giving him a purpose for his future.

The young boy looked to be around six years old, one of the oldest clones right now. Many of the earlier batches had been failures, only one or two clones surviving the initial stages of testing. There were too many defects, too much independence. 2224 had been too independent at first as well, but enough hours with a trainer and in simulations had cured him of that. Or so the scientists liked to believe. 2224 had just learned from Kal Skirata to hide the independence, bury it deep but not too deep so that one day he would be a better soldier than his brothers. Independence wasn't a bad thing, Skirata had taught him in the brief time they had had together. The cloners just thought it wasn't good for a good army. Independence meant the ability to adapt, which was good for a soldier like Jango wanted.

"And you'll have to be ready to lead them," the scientist was still talking, it seemed. Their footsteps echoed through the currently empty hall. He was right, though, someday there would be clones everywhere. For now, they were kept confined to the training halls till they were old enough. Even 2224, in training to be a commander, wasn't trusted to go from one training room to another even though it pulled a scientist from their duties. None of the other clones in the program to be commanders were advanced enough to be at the same level as 2224.

"You'll do all of us proud, CC-2224, I just know it," the scientist was pretty excited about all this. Must be a new one. 2224 always hated the new ones, so hopeful for this new army of theirs. At least the older scientists understood the true purpose of the clones was to destroy, not just to exist.

"I do as I'm ordered," 2224 stated simply, earning a glare from the scientist. These cloners could be so pretentious at times. All 2224 wanted to do was punch him right in the face, even if it was well out of his reach. Someday, he would be tall enough.

"Was I asking for your opinion, CC-2224?" the scientist scoffed and 2224 focused back on the dull grey walls around him, ignoring the creature with a look of disdain on his face. One of these days he'd get off this planet and show these cloners just what he could do and he wouldn't be thanking them. He'd be thanking Skirata and his nulls. Those boys were brutal but at the end of the day they were his brothers. Even though they weren't batchmates, those nulls would always be important to 2224. That would also piss of those cloners though, the months he spent under the tutelage of Skirata and his nulls.

It wasn't his fault he had been one of two to survive from his whole batch. The cloners had used the early batches to figure out what worked and what didn't. 2224 had worked, had worked very well and part of his genetic code was being used now in the more recent batches. 2224 could care less, though. Those boys were going to be nothing more than cannon fodder for whomever they ended up serving. He at least could hope to live at least six months before he ended up dead in a ditch somewhere. He had studied the history of the galaxy he would someday fight in, possibly protect. They sure loved to fight out there, but he had expected that. Recent history showed a better image for what he had been made for. 2224 figured, with the training he was getting in protecting civilians that they would be fighting for the Republic. Bunch of di'kuts who would rather sacrifice him and his brothers rather than their own people.

"In here, CC-2224," the scientist cut through his thoughts as the thing opened a door to his left. 2224 entered and came to stand at parade rest before his newest trainer, hiding his surprise easily to find Skirata waiting for him once again. The Mando was ruthless in his training, pushing them all hard to prepare them for what waited for them out there. The months he had spent with him and the nulls had hardened 2224 in ways that the Kaminoians could never replicate in their training. Skirata cared for them all like they were his own sons and he showed that by being absolutely honest. Skirata literally tortured them because he wanted them to be able to handle the pain when it came for them. He pushed them through simulations where they were awake for days severely injured because he needed to know they would come back to him.

"Sir," 2224 gave him a sharp nod, remembering how much the man had hated being saluted.

"Still don't have a name, kid?" Skirata raised an eyebrow at him as the scientist moved to enter the room as well. "I've got it from here. You can leave."

"I'm suppose to stay and take him back to his chamber once you're done with him," the scientist huffed and Skirata didn't bother hiding his eye roll.

"When I'm done with him, he'll be sent to a squad. I'll take it from here to get," Skirata jabbed a finger at the door, his other hand coming to rest on his blaster. 2224 could just imagine how pale the scientist possibly had gone and relaxed marginally when he heard the door close.

"I'm being reassigned, Sir?" 2224 glanced up at Skirata, hoping that he wasn't showing any of the excitement he was feeling.

"All in good time, kid," Skirata unholstered his blaster and held it, handle out, to 2224. "Take it."

2224 did as told, holding it more expertly than any six year old ever should. He held it in two hands, pointed at the ground, waiting expectantly. Skirata nodded before he snapped his fingers and a light came on further in the room, revealing a chair at the far end. 99 sat there, looking confused around the blindfold that covered his eyes. He remained silent, though, possibly as he had been ordered too. 2224 felt his grip tighten on the blaster but remained silent. Why his brother was here, he had no clue, but if his batchmate was in trouble then the cloners were doomed. 99 may not be fit for active duty but that didn't stop the clone from trying to prove his worth.

"Kill him," Skirata said simply, as though he was just commenting on the weather. 2224 looked up at him, surprised as 99 jerked at the voice, turning his head towards them.

"Sir? Have I done something wrong?" 99 asked quietly, voice shaking but he remained seated, hands clasped in his lap.

"No, son, you haven't. Just stay quite while 2224 goes through his test," Skirata sounded like he was calming a wounded animal.

"I won't do it, sir," 2224 bit out, keeping the gun pointed at the ground, glaring at Skirata with all the hatred he could muster.

"If you want to move on in your training, you will," Skirata snapped, crossing his arms. "Kill him and we can move on."

"If he hasn't done anything wrong, then there is no point to this test," 2224 let out a deep breath, glancing at 99. "I won't do it."

Skirata shook his head before pulling out his backup piece and holding it to 2224's head, the cold barrel brushing his hairline, "I wasn't asking, kid, I was ordering. Kill him, now."

"No," 2224 stayed still, but kept his eyes locked on Skirata's, defiant as ever.

Skirata searched his face before nodding to himself and leveling his pistol on 99, "Then I will."

"No you won't," 2224 snarled before lunging forward, pressing his pistol against Skirata's head, harder than necessary. "There is no point to killing him. It's a waste of time and of ammo. He is a competent maintenance clone with a lot of room and willingness to improve. His life is worth something, so might as well put it to use. You, however, might have just overstayed your welcome in this world."

Skirata tensed for a second before relaxing and holstering his back up, turning to face 2224, "Good. Remember this feeling right here, right now. Every time one of your brothers is threatened in any way, you remember this moment and you use this anger you feel. Every time you see a brother hurt, you think of 99. You do that and you will be the finest commander this army ever has."

2224 blinked up at Skirata in amazement before lowering his pistol slowly, still warily, "That's it?"

"Give me the gun," Skirata held out his hand expectantly. "Tomorrow you'll report to Aliit Squad, run by a kid named Alpha. They're short a man, so you'll fit in nicely. From here on out, till official orders come in, you will be part of Aliit. You will adapt and you will pretend to be a batcher, not a null, got it?"

"Yes, sir," 2224 nodded, handing over his pistol. Skirata nodded before gesturing to 99.

"Get him back to his quarters. One last thing, get a name before tomorrow. All the batchers have them," Skirata patted him on the back, hard. "Do me proud, kid, and keep me posted. I'll keep an eye on 99 for you."

"I won't hide him," 2224 lifted his chin a little, eyes darting to where 99 was shifting uncomfortably. "He's my brother, my batchmate. I won't deny it."

"I'm not asking you to," Skirata smiled sadly. "Just remember you're on a squad now. Those trainers push you hard and don't give you a lot of free time. You won't be living with him anymore."

"I don't want to be alone," 99 piped up, looking even tenser.

"You won't be," Skirata glanced at 2224. "2224 isn't going far and you'll be moved to different housing, into the barracks as well. You two will have to get used to having more bunkmates."

"We will, sir," 2224 crossed to 99, removing the blindfold and resting a hand on his brother's shoulder, gripping it tightly. "We can do this."

"You aren't leaving me?" 99 looked up at him, the right side of his face looking even more twisted than usual.

"Never," 2224 smiled a little as he heard the door open behind them. "Always brothers, no matter where we are."


	2. Chapter 2

Names were important to the clones. At their creation they would be assigned a number that coincided with the others in their batch. Each batch tended to be around a hundred clones that was broken down into squads of five. The clones referred to this smaller group as their batch, even though technically it would be the hundred or so clones they shared a barracks with. The earlier squad tended to be clones that had maybe been from the same batch but had originally been assigned different squads.

When Skirata had told him to get a name before he joined up with Aliit, he'd been worried. 99 had been easy to name, seeing as those were his numbers. The other clones he had met with names had picked something meaningful or had been named by their brothers. Thankfully he had a brother like 99 who had secretly spent a lot of time trying to come up with a name for him.

"It means helpful," 99 shrugged, fumbling with his hands as he sat on the edge of his bunk. "You help me a lot, even when you shouldn't."

"I like it," he'd nodded, liking it better than calling himself 2224. "It'll remind me of my purpose."

"You're more than the mission, though. Remember that too," 99's eyes were huge and he couldn't help himself from moving forward and pulling the handicapped boy into a hug.

Standing before Aliit squad the next day, already in his training armor as the other four lazed about their bench in the barracks they'd been assigned too, he wasn't so sure this was a good idea after all. Why couldn't he just been assigned to the nulls and not have to pretend that he understood what it meant to be a good brother to these complete strangers. They all shared the same face, but beyond that he didn't feel anything towards them. He was so used to 99, the similarities there but not being identical. Even the nulls had looked different in their own way. These boys all looked the same.

One boy, the one covered in the most armor stood looking him over as the others paused in what they were doing. He was pretty sure one of them was carving something into their helmet. He ignored it for meeting the challenging stare of the boy standing before him. He cocked an eyebrow, looking expectant, "So, you're the newbie they've assigned us."

"I was informed to report to Aliit squad this morning for training," he ran a critical eye over the four boys. "Which begins in five minutes."

"What are they going to do, not let us train?" another laughed, pulling on a boot.

"They can't afford to not let us train," another scoffed, leaning against one of the lockers. "We are the best they have."

He resisted rolling his eyes at them, keeping his face blank, "That remains to be seen."

"This one is feisty," the last boy was also sitting on the bench, but was wiping a rag over his gun. "He might last longer than the others."

"You aren't the first newbie we've been assigned," the boy standing before him sniffed disdainfully. "Probably won't be the last."

"Like I said before, that remains to be seen. I'll be down in the training center, waiting," he did a smart turn on his hell, all military precision and marched off.

"They gave us one with a stick up his ass," one of them muttered.

"That's new," another one answered and he swept out the door.

Aliit was an hour late to their training, by which point he had already started. He'd run these missions solo plenty of times and a few with the nulls to learn to work with others. He found training to be kinda meditative for him, allowed him to slip into a Zen like state. He needed it after meeting Aliit. If Skirata was testing him again, then he wasn't going to have an easy time passing.

He didn't realize the boys were there till he'd finished the run, killing the last droid with a swift thrust under its chin with his vibroblade. Clapping filled the air as the droid fell to the ground with a thunk and he whirled to face them, blaster up. The other boys were finally in their armor, helmets resting on a bench behind them. The leader laughed, crossing his arms, "Jumpy thing, aren't ya?"

"Always prepared," he slowly lowered his blaster, watching the others warily. His helmet was off to the side with his chest plate, a tactic Skirata had loved to use on them to remind them to guard their more fragile regions.

"Never saw anyone train like that except the nulls," another spoke up, looking impressed.

"What they do seems to work for them. Figured I'd try it myself," he shrugged, remembering that he was suppose to be a normal trooper now.

"So why did they send you to Aliit. You aren't like the others. They all came from batches that got broken up because they weren't working well together. We see them all the time in the mess with their new squads. Never seen you in the mess," the leader took a step forward, only a little menacingly.

"Got a different training program than them, I guess," he took a step forward, wondering what sort of power game they were playing. He could take them all easily, but that wasn't the point.

"Name?" the leader rolled his eyes.

"CC-2224," he answered automatically and cursed in his head.

"Early batcher," one of the other boys spoke up. "Probably only one left from his whole batch."

"There's one other," he snapped, glaring at the boy, knowing 99 was over in another area of the training room, fixing up some droids from earlier.

"So what, they trying to make you work with us boys? Last squad they did that too ended up in the medward for a month," another snarled.

"He didn't remember what it meant to be part of a squad," he remembered that boy, had watched the training session where he had turned on his new squad.

"You didn't answer my question, though," the leader cut in, pointing to each boy in turn. "I'm Alpha. Paranoid over there is Wolffe, gossip one is Fox and our ever-silent scout is Appo. Name?"

"Cody," the name sounded unfamiliar on his tongue, even though he had said it to himself in the mirror for an hour this morning.

"Well, Co-dy," Alpha drew out his name mockingly. "How about we do this next run together, once old 99 there cleans this mess up. See if you can keep up with us."

"Don't know why they keep him around," the one named Fox looked past him, eyes obviously finding 99. "He's not like us."

"No, he's not," he snapped, turning so he could catch 99 out of the corner of his eye. The other boy was starting to pull the droids off the training mat, "What's wrong with that?"

"He's a defect, could mess up all of us," Wolffe snarled. "His kind should be terminated."

His blaster came up before he could think, aimed right between Wolffe's eyes, "Wanna try saying that again, boy."

"Easy now," Alpha stepped back, eyes darting between the two boys. "We were just making fun."

"Making fun, huh? Because he looks different? Acts different? Cuz he's not learning to fight like us?" his eyes never left Wolffe's and he was happy to see fear there now.

"Everyone says it," Appo took a step towards him and froze when his cold gaze snapped to the other boy. "We just repeat what the cloners tell us."

"Clones like 99 aren't any different than us," he hissed at them. "You wanna be a good clone? Go right ahead listening to the cloners. You wanna be a good brother? Start defending 99 and others like him. Don't tear them down, help them be our brothers."

"Why do you care?" Wolffe snapped right back.

"Because we're batch brothers," he threw his blaster at Wolffe, catching the boy by surprise before turning and cross to 99, grabbing the other arm of the droid he was dragging and helping him drag it off. 99 gave him a grateful look and he just nodded back. They turned back to the training mat to find the other boys waiting, grabbing droids as well. Alpha stopped before them, looking a little sheepish.

"We don't like newbies much, never understood what it meant to be brothers," Alpha shrugged. "That's why we were hard on you. Most of them get pushed from squad to squad, so they tend to sacrifice our lives more in the sims."

"I plan on getting everyone out," he lifted his chin, meeting Alpha's eyes. "Even di'kuts like you."

Alpha smiled and held out his arm, "You may just work out."

He grasped Alpha's arm, letting some of his tension go, "It remains to be seen."


	3. Chapter 3

"You're going to miss dinner, Commander."

"I already got it," Cody looked up at Alpha from where he was standing over the older clone. The boys were now into their first year of being a squad, four standard years old and starting officer training at the end of this training module. Cody had already received his orders and knew that his entire squad was being advanced into officer training. It had taken some time for all of them to sync up into a cohesive battle unit, but once they had clicked…they scared even some of the more battle hardened Mandos with their ferocity and cunning plans. And if one of them went down, there was no going back for them. If you couldn't keep up, then you provided an exit or died trying. The mission always came first on the battlefield. Off it, however, was entirely different story.

Cody had had a hard time assimilating to the group, used to only counting on himself and 99 most of the time. Having someone there to watch his back was a new experience. The nulls didn't count because, well, they were the nulls. They weren't brothers in the normal sense but they still functioned as brothers on a certain level. They functioned well together and apart and that was what Cody was used to. The nulls would watch his back but he was also expected to be able to take care of himself if needed. They never fully relaxed unless they were in Skirata's quarters.

Having Aliit squad always around was trying the first month they were together and Alpha noticed quickly. Wolffe was close behind and if he had picked up on it first he would have used Cody's jumpiness to his advantage. Alpha just started finding reasons for the rest of the squad to shift away from Cody during downtime so he was alone but not completely. The first time it happened, it felt like something had eased in Cody's chest. He was good at keeping them safe but he didn't quite know how to let them do the same for him.

The thing that probably helped the most was the guys pulling 99 into their little family. Cody learned that Aliit squad had always been nice to his brother and usually went out of their way to help him. Him being the brother of their newest squad member was just another point in 99's favor. They all understood what it was like to lose batch mates, seeing as the space Cody was filling was from a batch brother that hadn't made it out of his cylinder. They couldn't imagine losing three, didn't want to.

"Ration bars don't count as meals," Alpha sounded exasperated. Going from the look on his face, he was more than a little annoyed as well, "We haven't seen you all day cuz of your fancy training. Wolffe is actually looking a little worried and Appo has been trailing 99 everywhere. I saw him take a swing at old Appo with a severed droid arm not an hour ago."

"I'm not hungry, though," Cody frowned back down at his data pad, going back over the files he was supposed to be studying. They had only one more year of training before they started using the batch squads in full unit training. That meant he only had a year to be as good as possibly can be. He was one of a few clones selected to be a Marshall Commander, which meant they'd be in charge of whole fleets. He would be going from being responsible for his squad to being responsible for thousands of men.

"I know for a fact that you haven't eaten since we dragged you to breakfast this morning," Alpha crossed his arms, frowning. "I know that its scary, thinking about all those boys down there and knowing you'll be sending them to their deaths in a few years."

"Its not that," Cody snapped, looking back up at Alpha. "I've gotten over that bit. That's what the training was for today. Compartmentalizing and all that. I can't go in there and know that they willingly let me do it. They won't fight my orders or yours. We've all come to accept that we're going to die someday for a cause that isn't even ours and why?"

"Keeps me up at night, sometimes," Alpha sat down on the bench next to him, knocking a shoulder against Cody's. "Like we should feel something more."

"Like something is missing up here," Cody tapped the side of his head, sighing. "I've been studying other races, other cultures, on the side. Skirata assigned it, said that it'd be good to know who we might be fighting someday."

"He's got us four reading up on Mandos," Alpha nodded. "You got that with the nulls?"

"Yeah, having that in my head, having all of this culture and lifestyle and family units in my head. Gives me headaches sometimes," Cody rubbed at his forehead, finally setting the datapad aside. "Mentioned it to Skirata. Told me not to tell the medics. They'd terminate me in a heartbeat. He says I get them because I wasn't made to understand and my brain is trying to anyway."

"Too much information in the system?" Alpha looked down at his hands, confused.

"Yeah, says I have to work on compartmentalizing more and it'll get better. You guys might get the same but probably not. You don't have to know as much. The flash training helps, but I like reading some of the files as well. Feels more real to me," Cody shrugged.

"We're all going to be commanders, aren't we," Alpha glanced at Cody, eyes sad.

Cody nodded, nudging his knee against Alpha's gently, "Just cuz we'll be separated doesn't mean we're not brothers."

"The Litany Skirata talks about, the nulls do it?" Alpha wrapped a hand around Cody's wrist, fingers resting on his pulse point. Cody forced himself to remain relaxed, knowing Alpha was seeking comfort in feeling his blood moving in his body. So that's what they had been learning about while he'd been in his lectures.

"99 and I do it, too," Cody flexed his fingers a little. "65, 37, and 12. We didn't know them well enough to think up names for them, so we stuck with numbers. We add names as we learn them, brothers who haven't lasted as long as we have. 99 added a scientist a while back, one that died when there was an accident in her lab. She'd been helping him with some pt in her free time."

"Will you add others, once we start fighting?" Alpha kept his focus on his hand on Cody's wrist.

"Ever brother," Cody nodded, pulling his arm back so he was gripping Alpha's hand. "They're keeping us together till the end. Till they assign posts and all that. We've got another few years together."

"It was just a lot today. Skirata wanted us to know everything, the Litany, the Mando Wars, everything," Alpha squeezed Cody's hand back before letting his hand fall away. "Realizing that we had been made to be nothing more than the clankers they're training us to fight…it was hard."

"That's why Skirata was teaching you how to be Mandos," Cody stood, stretching his back out, hearing a few pops. "So you weren't just fleshy clankers. Come on, I'm sure the others are wondering where we are."

"Thought you weren't hungry," Alpha stood, smiling a little now but the haunted look was still there. Cody didn't think it was ever going to go away.

"I'm not, but you are. Come on, we're going to be late," Cody headed for the door, catching movement out of the corner of his eye. 99 was in another section, sweeping the floor. He met Cody's eye for a second, eyes just as sad as Cody figured his were and got back to work.

"If anything happens to me," Alpha caught up to Cody at that point, falling into step with him. "Keep an eye on the others for me?"

"You do the same," Cody nodded, knowing the next few years were going to be hard on all of them.


	4. Chapter 4

Year five passed uneventfully for Aliit squad, other than gaining a few more inches and the training ramping up. They grew closer as a squad, even though Cody still tended to function as an outsider. They found that it worked for them, though, once they were moved into a new barracks with even more squads present. They all knew that everyone wouldn't get alone and used Cody's stealth skills and Appo's scouting talents. None of the other squads were ever able to pull any pranks on Aliit squad and soon left them alone. Aliit squad, however, did not leave everyone else alone.

"We are the top dogs here," Wolffe pointed out over breakfast early into their sixth year. A few tables over, one of the younger cadets was gesturing wildly while explaining his green hair.

"Doesn't mean you have to resort to childish pranks," Cody focused on his food, face as blank as ever. Although Alpha was the official leader of their squad, more often than not they turned to Cody for guidance.

"Oh come on, we needed to throw the scientists off our trail. Reverting to rookie pranks was a good strategy," Fox glared at Cody, but there was no real heat behind it.

"Green hair though?" Cody glanced at Alpha, lips twitching slightly.

"None of us have green on our stuff," Alpha shrugged, looking proud of himself. They had been encouraged at the beginning of year six to start developing a squad identity as well as a personal identity. Seeing as all of them were being fast tracked to leadership roles, having markings or a color to mark themselves with was allowed. Out of all of them, only Cody was sticking with the yellow-orange of their training gear. Appo was really into blue right now, although the colors often changed, Alpha was using a dusty orange, Fox used red and Wolffe had a nice steel grey.

"If you get caught again, I won't bail you out," Cody shrugged before going back to his food.

"That's the fun-loving Codster that we all know," Wolffe chuckled, nudging Appo with his elbow. "One of these days he'll join the prank war."

"I think you should be glad he hasn't," Appo gestured at his brother with his spoon. "No one would be safe."

"He wouldn't prank us," Fox laughed then glanced at Cody. "Would you?"

Cody just shrugged, but there was an evil gleam in his eyes that did not sit well with the other four. He sat up instead, pushing his tray away, "They're grouping our training with a few other squads now."

"Why would they want to do that?" Alpha frowned, pushing the last of his food around.

Cody pulled out his data reader, handing it over for the others to see their new schedule, "We aren't the only squads they're fast tracking. Better use of resources if they have all of us in one space. We aren't the only ones this is happening to. They're starting to build up towards the battalions right now. Might as well get all the officers working together."

"Anyone fun?" Wolffe glanced over the screen.

"No, all the other squads are from other barracks, "Fox tapped the screen. "Looks like we're moving again too."

"Last time," Cody nodded. "This one is the last stop before graduation."

"Splitting us up, too," Appo frowned. "Alpha and Wolffe to Commander's training, Fox and me to lower officers and Cody to Captain's? That's bullshit."

"You said they were looking at you to lead all of us," Alpha crossed his arms. "You were the best candidate."

"No one has been picked yet. Plus, this obviously is payback for the incident in the labs last week," Cody smirked. "I go for the bigger fishes, like to make a bigger splash. Its all part of the plan, no worries."

"This plan of yours for galaxy domination is really starting to worry me, brother," Fox shook his head. "You might actually pull it off."

"You actually doubted me, Fox? I'm hurt," Cody held a hand to his heart before looking serious. "Now, this is a good time to make connections. The more brothers who think like us the better when we hit planetside in a few years."

"Same goes for you, Mr. Anti-social," Alpha gave him a playful shove before grabbing his tray and standing. "Lets go make friends!"

 ** _Aliit Squad_**

"When I said make friends, I meant nicely," Alpha handed an ice pack to Wolffe while Cody pressed a bacta pad to Fox's knuckles.

"We were nice," Wolffe gave a little smile. "Not my fault first day in they had us do hand-to-hand with guys outside our squads."

"Thire got in a few hits, too," Fox shrugged. "Tomorrow we're gonna compare notes on pranking. He had a few suggestions for the delivery of our next one."

"So they made friends," Cody shook his head. "If we ever get into a real battle, I fear for our enemies."

"I saw Appo talking to someone, too, so all of us were successful in our squad missions today but Cody," Fox shot a victorious smirk at his brother.

"Jesse wanted some tips on improving his aim. Seems his squad is of the same mind as us. Jesse and Thire are in the same batch," Appo nodded. "One of his brother's is in scout training, another is just a trooper and there was one more in officer training."

"So Appo is being social," Alpha broke the silence after Appo's statement. "There's always time for firsts, I guess. I mean, Cody didn't make any enemies, so we're sitting pretty well by our standards."

"Actually," Cody started but the door to the barracks slid open and five other clones walked in. The one in the front looked livid, face slightly red and all of his focus on Cody. The other four trailed along behind, one in particular looking rather annoyed. Another waved at them and Appo waved back. Wolffe nudged Fox and the two of them smirked at the annoyed looking one.

Alpha turned to Cody, raising an eyebrow, "What did you do?"

"I tried to make friends, like you said we should do," Cody shrugged. "Didn't end well."

"Whatever he did, we apologize for," Fox stood up, holding the bacta patch to his knuckles.

The first guy stopped a few feet short of them, crossing his arms, "I don't care about that asshole, it's the jerks that beat up my brothers that I have a beef with right now."

"We told you already, they didn't do it on purpose," annoyed guy sighed as he stepped up to stand next to the angry one. The guy who had waved stood a little behind them as the other two moved to sit on a bench across from Aliit's space.

"As you can see, they got banged up as well," the friendly one pointed out with a smirk.

"Yeah, Thire even gave me a black eye," Wolffe stood, pulling the eye pack off his eye to show off the growing shiner.

"You do know that the medical officers could take care of those," annoyed raised an eyebrow at them.

"Guys, the ever friendly guy is Thire and I'm going to assume the one who was nice to Appo is Jesse," Fox gestured to the clones in turn.

"Mr. Bossy is Rex, our squad leader," Jesse spoke up. "Those two losers over there are Stak and Sinker. Your turn."

"I'm Appo; black eye is Wolffe; bruised knuckles is Fox; over protective is our fearless leader, Alpha; and the guy Rex seems to hate is Cody," Appo gestured to Aliit squad in turn. "We make up the ever lovely Aliit squad."

"We're Blue Squad," Thire nodded to them. "Not sure what your brother did to Rex, but whatever it was pissed him off. Ignore him, it's probably nothing. Looks like we're barrack buddies."

"Hey, no getting friendly with the enemy here," Rex snapped at his squad, pointing a finger at Cody. "He's an asshole."

"I did apologize," Cody shrugged at Alpha, who was not looking amused at all, unlike the other seven.

"You're suppose to be the responsible one here," Alpha sighed, shaking his head.

Cody cocked his head to the side, "No, I'm the one with the galaxy domination plan. Responsible is not a part of that."

"No, that's not how this works," Alpha turned to face Cody. "You agreed that galaxy domination comes after we end this war, not before. You shook on it and everything."

"But galaxy domination is so much easier," Cody flopped back down on their bench. "I don't have to factor in social behaviors and sentient emotions into it."

"Just because you somehow missed the part of training that covers normal etiquette does not mean you get to just skip over running this army," Fox threw the bacta patch at Cody. "Now apologize to the very nice brother here so we can socialize with the others not been called traitor every time we cross his path."

"But I already did," Cody huffed. "Even ask Skirata. He was there!"

"Skirata laughed his ass off and wasn't even helpful," Rex snarled, looking even tenser. "Your brother's got a screw loose up in his head and not in a good way."

"Watch it, di'kut, or your face will meet my fist," Alpha snapped, stepping forward threateningly.

"Whoa, cool it guys!" Jesse moved between the two, holding up his hands. "Rex has some issues with his brain to mouth filter. Also, he has anger issues. As in he gets angry instead of every other emotion he should be feeling. We're working on it, but progress is slow. It helps that we're using real explosives now. I'm sure he meant what he said in a good way?"

"Right, like when Wolffe calls Fox a shabuir after he royally messes up in sims. He's just over worried about Fox and doesn't want him to fail," Appo nodded, stepping forward as well.

"No, I want him to fail," Rex glared at Cody, who stood and cracked his knuckles menacingly.

"You are making my brothers angry," Cody said softly, eyes never leaving Rex. "I don't like it when they're angry. Things tend to catch on fire or find their way into trash compactors, if you catch my drift."

"Perfectly, asshole," Rex growled before turning on his heel before stalking over to his part of the barracks. Jesse shrugged at Appo sadly and followed after.

"Well, nice meeting you guys," Thire looked a little uncomfortable. "We still on for putting dye in C blocks shampoo tomorrow?"

"You know it," Wolffe smiled a little too happily. "We'll work on Cody, as long as you take care of your guy. No promises if he's rude to one of ours again."

"No hard feelings," Thire nodded, glancing at Cody. "Never seen him this angry before. Get the deets and tell me tomorrow."

"Sure thing," Fox raised a thumb up as Thire walked away before all four rounded on Cody.

"What did you do?" Alpha snapped.

"I called Rex a spineless worm after I kicked his ass in hand-to-hand today," Cody shrugged. "I also may had called him pathetic when I scored better in the range. I was being nice about it though. I promised I'd go easy tomorrow and that's when he completely lost it."

"Cody, calling people names is not being nice," Fox sighed. "We've been over this."

"After supper, we are going to Blue Squad and saying exactly what I tell you to," Alpha moved towards his locker. "We don't need those guys starting a war with us because of this."

"How is it that out of all of us, Cody causes the most trouble on the first day?" Wolffe followed Alpha, the other two following along. They all completely missed Cody glancing at Rex and Rex giving a thumbs up back, looking particularly victorious. They're poor brothers wouldn't know what to do tomorrow when they woke up with all of their clothes missing tomorrow. Honestly, how could Cody not be friends with the guy who almost bested him in hand-to-hand? It wasn't his fault that it was really easy to persuade his brothers that he had made an enemy the first day. Oh well, they're loss. Or curse.


End file.
